On 2/12/2018 9:42 AM, Joerg wrote:
On 2018-02-12 07:56, sms wrote:
The key to getting more people out on bicycles is to promote equipment
that allows them to ride to work or school in normal clothes, and
provide routes that make the ride practical.

Amen! Many people do not understand this and that includes a lot here in
the NG.

Because it is mostly enthusiasts in the NG. We need to understand how
normal people think sic.
A bicycle boulevard without a bicycle lane? What is a bicycle boulevard
then?

It is heavily traffic-calmed. There are few stop signs (stop signs are
on the cross streets. It is well marked. It goes all the way from
outlying residential neighborhoods to schools and to downtown. It is
very heavily used. Some people think that bicycle lanes are the only
infrastructure that will get people onto bikes for transportational
cycling but that's not true. People will ride on quiet streets as well.
The bicycle boulevards aren't suitable for fast recreational rides.
You're not going to find many riders going faster than 15 MPH (unless
they're on an electric bicycle).
scratching head
Those three others are unfortunately typical, sounds like our village :-(

The others were not bad people (well not all of them) they just were not
interested in cycling, except in theory. I am pretty lucky that right
now we have four out of five council people that are pretty supportive
of bicycling, even if we disagree on other major issues. We have a
chance to make that five out of five this November.
I have been trying to get a bicycle light giveaway going, even though
most riders could afford lights they don't get them. Especially bad is
students riding to school in the early morning when it's dark.

Won't help much. I dread going through Davis with my car but sometimes
had to because of carrying a heavy load. At night cyclists dart around
willy-nilly. Traffic rules? Red lights? Phhht, that ain't meanin'
nuthin'. Many have rear lights and they are mostly either off or are
very dim and have depleted alkalines in them that have been leaking for
weeks.

I think that the key is USB rechargeable. People have become accustomed
to plugging in their devices at night, phones, tablets, cars, laptops, etc..